Lincoln

Narratives of Empire #2

by Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series spans the history of the United States from the Revolution to the post-World War II years. With their broad canvas and large cast of fictional and historical characters, the novels in this series present a panorama of the American political and imperial experience as interpreted by one of its most worldly, knowing, and ironic observers.

To most Americans, Abraham Lincoln is a monolithic figure, the Great Emancipator and Savior of the Union, beloved by all. In Gore Vidal's Lincoln we meet Lincoln the man and Lincoln the political animal, the president who entered a besieged capital where most of the population supported the South and where even those favoring the Union had serious doubts that the man from Illinois could save it. Far from steadfast in his abhorrence of slavery, Lincoln agonizes over the best course of action and comes to his great decision only when all else seems to fail. As the Civil War ravages his nation, Lincoln must face deep personal turmoil, the loss of his dearest son, and the harangues of a wife seen as a traitor for her Southern connections. Brilliantly conceived, masterfully executed, Gore Vidal's Lincoln allows the man to breathe again.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Civil War, Historical, Politics, American History, Literature

672 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Works of American writer Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, noted for his cynical humor and his numerous accounts of society in decline, include the play The Best Man (1960) and the novel Myra Breckinridge (1968) .

People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.

Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.

They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.

At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde

Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).

Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).

Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.

Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.

Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865.

In the immortal words of Joe Biden this was a “big f**king deal”.



If you have not seen the movie Lincoln please go see it. I cannot remember the last time that I have enjoyed a movie so thoroughly. Daniel Day-Lewis is spectacular. For two and a half hours he was LINCOLN, more so than the original. The supporting cast is absolutely superb. David Strathairn plays William Seward and Sally Fields plays Mary Todd. James Spader shows up as one of the men who has the job to strong arm lame duck senators into voting for the 13th Amendment. He was hilarious. The movie made me laugh and moved me to tears of joy and pain. Even though I knew, obviously, that the 13th Amendment had passed I was on the edge of my seat with stomach clenched and my heart in my throat watching the vote. If it had been a sporting event and not a movie theater I would have rung the rafters with my shouts of exultation when the final votes are tallied.

Rachel Maddow said recently something that still resonates with me. “But here is the thing about rights-they’re not actually supposed to be voted on. That’s why they are called rights.” Amazing that we are still discussing rights in this country. Every time we bring up an initiative in this country regarding the rights of some of our citizens I just have to shake my head. It is or at least it should be self-evident.

I’m rarely going to say this, but watching the movie first actually enhanced my reading experience. The movie is based on the Doris Kearns Goodwin book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, but I found whole dialogue scenes lifted from Gore Vidal's book. Let’s just say that Steven Spielberg probably read this book before filming the movie.


William Seward who gave wise counsel to his rival during the war.

Abraham Lincoln to maintain peace in his own party and to keep an eye on his enemies appointed his rivals to the cabinet. The two most ambitious were William Seward who served as Secretary of State and Salmon P. Chase who served as Secretary of the Treasury. Their plotting and scheming were sometimes a source of amusement to Lincoln, when discovered resignations were offered, but Lincoln refused to accept. When greenback money was introduced Chase’s ambitions got the better of him.

”You know ,” said Lincoln, “I asked Mr. Chase why he had put himself instead of me on the one-dollar bill, clearly the most in use of the two denominations, and he said, ‘As you are the President, you must be on the most expensive bill; and I on the less.’”


Salmon P. Chase providing the image for the $1 greenback.

There is something FISHY about Chase.


Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury.

Lincoln was much more politically savvy than his rivals expected. He outwitted them at every turn and planted devious traps for them. He did the same to his Democratic challengers. He used his knowledge of the law to bend the law and in one of the more controversial moments of his term in office he suspended habeas corpus and threw thousands of agitators in jail. His homespun mannerisms and his penchant for storytelling certainly hid his steely determination. I had always thought of Lincoln as a reluctant politician, but that was part of his brilliance concealing the ambition that made him a man who burned with desire to be reelected. Seward’s respect for Lincoln continued to grow as the war continued. Chase never seemed to learn that he was over-matched by Lincoln, although I did have a soft spot for Chase’s hobby of collecting signatures. Every time he would find a new one he was as excited as I am when I find a book I thought I’d never find. Vidal planted me squarely at the table during cabinet meetings. I came away from these meetings with the smell of cigar smoke in my hair and the pungent taste of bourbon on my tongue.

As much as I want to have sympathy for Mary Todd Lincoln I found it more and more difficult as Vidal revealed more of her character. She was a shopaholic before they knew what to call it. As it became harder for her to get money out of congress and her husband, she started exchanging political favors for money. She was easily slighted and exacted vicious revenge. Lincoln’s clerks who had to deal with her money concerns and her frequent embarrassing outbursts referred to her as the Hellcat. She did suffer from debilitating migraines usually brought on by stress. She would throw childish fits ratcheting Lincoln’s own stress levels higher when the union most needed him concerned about the national interest. Both of them suffered from frequent bouts of melancholy and rarely seemed able to help each other to be happy.

Lincoln had problems with his generals. He even fired some of them more than once. His first choice for command of the Union army was Robert E. Lee, probably the first man in history who was offered the command of two armies fighting against each other. When Lee chose his state over his country Lincoln went with Irwin McDowell who proved very ineffective. Then:

George McClellan referred to as “The Great American Tortoise” because of his inability to engage the enemy. A problem that would plague a series of union generals. The one positive contribution McClellan made to the war effort was he proved to be an excellent trainer. He turned a ragtag army into a drilled and efficient machine. He was fired, rehired and fired again.


General George B. McClellan, a disappointing fighter, but a dangerous Democratic opponent.

John Pope fired
Ambrose Burnside fired


General Joe Hooker the man who lent his name to prostitution.

Lincoln had great hope for “Fighting Joe" Hooker and for a while it looked like he finally had a general that wanted to fight. Hooker was knocked unconscious when a Confederate shell hit a pillar of the porch on which he was standing, and the pillar had fallen on him, and he had been unconscious for hours. Once recovered, he had given up drink and without drink there was, everyone said, no longer a “Fighting Joe” Hooker but simply another incompetent Union general named Hooker. He had another issue that may have sapped some of his fighting strength. His headquarters looked like a brothel-casino. In fact, so addicted was Hooker and his immediate staff to the flesh that Washington’s army of prostitutes was now known as Hooker’s girls or, for short HOOKERS.



George Meade fired

The victories, like a breath of fresh air were coming from the generals out west, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan. Finally Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant to command the Union army and the rest is history.

It was a bad bet for the South to make, with 2/3rds of the population in the North it didn’t take much slide rule work to figure out that a prolonged war would simply result in the South running out of men to fight with. Some say the South might have won if they had fought a defensive war, just holding a line and letting the Yankees come to them. I have been a proponent of that theory as well in the past especially since the Union generals showed such a reluctance to fight their fellow countrymen. The blockade would have continued to squeeze down supply lines and with most of the manufacturing in the North, the sanctions would have continued to erode the ability of the South to fight effectively. Despite having the best generals, and they were truly providing inspirational leadership, and with a population that was determined to hang on to a way of life that was unsustainable; it is still really hard to concoct a scenario that would have resulted in the South winning the war.

The Ancient, as his clerks referred to him, was intent on bringing the Union back together. ”Of course, Pennsylvania is our soil. But so is Virginia. So are the Carolinas. So is Texas. They are forever our soil. That is what this war is about and these damned fools cannot grasp it; or will not grasp it. The whole country is our soil. I cannot fathom such men.”

And here we are living in a Union that Lincoln through guile and ruthlessness managed to hold together. Unfortunately the South did not get to benefit from the benevolence that Lincoln had planned for them during reconstruction. Highly recommended to read in conjunction with a wonderful movie.

I have also reviewed another Gore Vidal book from the Empire series. Washington D. C. review

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing work of historical fiction and, as historical fiction must be, it’s accurate historically as well as bringing the era and personages alive. I’ve read and continue to read a lot about the ACW and Vidal has given us a good and honest read.

However. Vidal steps out from behind the curtain to offer a controversial point of view: Lincoln is to blame for the civil war and he willed his own death as atonement for bringing the bloodbath to pass.

No, sir. There is no one person to blame for that war. It started in earnest when the South struck the first blow by shelling Fort Sumter. Your idea that things would have just gone on peacefully if Lincoln hadn’t insisted the South remain in the Union is a pipe dream. That would have quickly become one of the most contentious borders on the planet. A Slave Nation next to a Free Nation? (Read the Confederate Constitution and see how determined they were to hang onto their legacy of slavery and also extend it.) People would have been escaping across the border all the time and slavers would have been chasing them and clashing with Free Nation soldiers. It would have been nonstop conflict and eventually resulted in a war anyway.

No, I wish the war had never been fought. But if you read historical accounts of the decades preceding armed conflict you will find out how many hotheads there were on both sides of the aisle. Plenty of them steaming for war including Southerners. I respect your writing and opinions Mr. Vidal but breaking into your novel to talk like you do, especially at the end, and laying all the blame on Lincoln, is rather naive of you. And unfair. A Lost Causer might speak as you do. But you shouldn’t.

I still give you five. It’s a great novel and people can make up their own minds about Lincoln and Jeff Davis and the war.

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Novel Of Abraham Lincoln

In his 1984 historical novel "Lincoln", Gore Vidal has written with great insight about our sixteenth president, his cabinet, his family, his enemies, and the Civil War Era. Lengthy though the book is, the writing is crisp and eloquent. It held my attention throughout. The book is part of a series of novels by Vidal exploring the history of the United States.

In writing historical novels, it is difficult to tell where fact ends and fiction begins. This is particularly the case in dealing with a complex figure such as Lincoln whose life and political legacy remain controversial and subject to many interpretations. Controversial matters that Vidal addresses in his novel include Lincoln's attitude towards African-Americans and the Reconstruction policy that Lincoln might have pursued if he had lived. Vidal's book shows careful study of Lincoln's life and the Civil War era. He uses the resources uniquely available to the novelist to good advantage by probing the thought processes and feelings of his characters where historical evidence is lacking. I found the portrait of Lincoln compelling, but it is important to remember that Vidal is writing a novel.

Vidal's book begins as the President-elect arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. a few days before his inauguration to thwart a feared assassination attempt in Baltimore. In the course of the novel, passages of recollection by various characters, reliable and unreliable, cast some light on Lincoln's earlier life. The book moves carefully and slowly, with a great deal of attention given, and properly so, to the earlier period of Lincoln's presidency. Much attention is given to Washington, D.C. at the outset of Lincoln's administration, to attempts to avert the war, to Lincoln's formation of his cabinet, and to preparing the nation for what proved to be a long bloody struggle. The pace of the book picks up as it proceeds through Lincoln's first term and reelection, the end of the Civil War, and the assassination.

The picture of Abraham Lincoln that emerges from Vidal is of a man of great intellect, ambition and will, determined to save the Union at all costs. Vidal portrays Lincoln's overriding dedication to the Union. In order to preserve the Union, Lincoln uses extraordinary and even ruthless political skills. Thus, Vidal's novel considers extensively Lincoln's relationship with his cabinet. Vidal shows Lincoln choosing a cabinet from among his political rivals for the presidency, as well as from loyalist democrats, in order to be all-inclusive in the war effort. Lincoln deals with uncanny skill with potential rivals for the presidency, especially Secretary of State Seward and Secretary of the Treasury Chase. (A recent historical study, "Team of Rivals" by Doris Goodwin also treats Lincoln's relationship to his cabinet at length.) The book also shows Lincoln dealing with similar finesse and force with the Radical Republicans in Congress, with Chief Justice Taney on the Supreme Court, and with his military leaders.

Vidal tells his story through a variety of perspectives. Most of the time, the viewpoint is that of John Hay, one of Lincoln's two secretaries, who had detailed and close access to Lincoln throughout the presidency. Hay and Lincoln's other secretary, Nicolay, together wrote one of the earliest biographies of Lincoln. Vidal also gives the reader a large portrait of the many southern conspirators against Lincoln. In particular Vidal develops the character of a young man named David Herrold, with uncertain purpose in life, who ultimately becomes part of the Booth conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase and his ambitious daughter Kate also receive a large share of attention in Vidal's novel.

For all the attention lavished on him, Lincoln as a man remains an enigma. Lincoln largely kept his own counsel and was not demonstrative in showing his feelings. Thus fleshing-out Lincoln's character offers the novelist a great deal of latitude, and Vidal makes the most of it. His novel focuses on Lincoln's difficult relationship with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as she spends lavishly, engages herself in political intrigue, and descends to near-madness. The Lincolns endured the death of their young son Willie during the presidency. Vidal properly gives substantial attention to Lincoln's religious views, which became increasing theistic with the prolongation of the Civil War, but never Christian.

Although Gore clearly admires Lincoln and his fortitude in saving the Union, he emphasizes that Lincoln's success came at a high price over and above the loss of blood and treasure in a long bitter war. With his suspension of habeas corpus and suppression of dissent, Lincoln expanded forever the power of the Presidency. The war effort changed the character of the United States from an agrarian republic to a centralized, industrial nation. At the end of the book, Vidal puts his own misgivings into the words of John Hay, stationed in France after the assassination.. Hay remarks that "Lincoln, in some mysterious fashion, had willed his own murder as a form of atonement for the great and terrible thing that he had done by giving so bloody and absolute a rebirth to his nation." (p. 657)

"Lincoln" is a thoughtful and moving book for those readers wanting to think about the ideals and political processes of the United States and about Lincoln's role in their continuing development.

Robin Friedman

[Reverenddave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arguably the best historical fiction book every written beating out even notables like Shaara's Killer Angels. Hell this is probably one of the top 5 books on the Civil War period. (Along with Shelby Foote's epic three volume opus, McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, and the aforementioned Killer Angels)

If you have the slightest interest in history, the Civil War, Lincoln or even just a beautifully constructed story of politics in a time of war read it. Meticulously researched and exquisitely put together this book is epic

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I write my review I am within the last hundred pages and last few months of Abraham Lincoln's life. In other words, Good Friday 1865 is on the horizon and both President and Mrs. Lincoln are set to go and see "Our American Cousin" at that now-fated Washingtonian landmark Ford's Theater. I have been immersing myself in all things Lincoln/Civil War in the last few months as a result of the new Spielberg film and my already having seen it twice. For as much as I cannot stop raving about the film itself I do actually have a few issues with it, albeit this is not the forum to bring those issues to fruition. Suffice to say, I have the "Lincoln Bug" and I feel that it is here to stay (at least for a while).

I am a student of American and Presidential History and for all I do know, I somewhat feel that I either a) don't know ANYTHING regarding President Lincoln or b) feel that I know TOO much regarding President Lincoln. In my case, I simply cannot find that happy medium. It's been said countless times in I don't know how many articles I've read or however many interviews I've seen that American Presidents always feel somewhat that they'll never "live up" to Lincoln or that they must "get right" with the legend of Abraham Lincoln in order to perform and/or carry out the duties of the office that they've sworn to uphold.

So now we know just where I'm at in this vast wilderness of historical information. I simply do not know just where I should start on this journey that I'm dying to embark on. So, I did what I thought was the best thing, kill two birds with one stone. I haven't read a historical novel yet this year and I have this new rediscovered fondness for President Lincoln. I decided that it was finally time for me to take a deep breath and at last dive into Vidal's magnum opus for good. I have tried ever since high school to read this and always seem to get to right after the first inaugural where my concentration and stamina wear out. I've always put this book down and sworn to myself that "someday I'll really read this one." Well Christmas week of December 2012 just happened to be that someday.

I must give Vidal credit where it is due as to the vast and immense research that he obviously poured into every character and almost every scene. The one thing I've always hated about this novel is that Vidal never separates his scenes and as a result the reader finds themselves wondering just how they got from the East Room of the White House for example to the barroom halfway across the city. A few times I needed to back up and actually reread pages just to figure out how the transition happened.

For those Civil War buffs out there, all the usual suspects (George McClellan, William Seward, John Wilkes Booth) make at least a page worth of an appearance within this American epic. The first 130 or so pages go just from February, 1861 (when Lincoln himself sneaks into Washington under cover of night) to the conclusion of the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) in July, 1861. The second part of the story takes us from December, 1861 to the end of 1863 and the Gettysburg campaign and address, respectively. As I still have yet to complete the third and final part, I can tell you we are going through the 1864 Election and up to Appomattox.

With all that I've mentioned here I have to admit that this is damn fine piece of literature. The few faults that I've brought up shouldn't mar the creation of what for me is quite possibly the BEST historical novel that I've yet read. Pick this one up and lose yourself (if only for a short time) within the politics and times of the early 1860's and the man that single-handedly reinvented the office and tenor of the American Presidency for generations to come.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1984.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun book to read. It is a work of historical fiction that covers Lincoln from the start of his presidency to his assassination. It is written through the points of view of various political associates and enemies, though not through Lincoln’s own eyes. Details of the war were not covered. It instead focused on his political maneuverings.

This type of book can do something no pure history book can do. It can give a possible answer to the question “what was Lincoln really like”? In Gore Vidal’s telling, Lincoln was a master politician, always one step ahead of his opponents. He had a humble and self-deprecating manner, but underneath was sly cunning and a nerve of steel to stick to his own judgment and decisions. His philosophical driving force was to save the Union, which he was determined to do at any cost. Vidal paints his opposition to slavery to be of secondary importance.

The way that the book was written through the points of view of several people other than Lincoln, but never Lincoln himself, resulted in presenting Lincoln with a mysterious air. No one was ever really sure what exactly was going on in his mind. It was interesting to speculate. It was also fun seeing how people constantly underestimated him.

I can’t say how historically accurate this book is, or how defensible the portrait was of his personality. I hope it was good, otherwise I’ll feel rather cheated. My 2 critiques of the book are (1) the length. I had a hard time maintaining interest for this long. At some point it felt like the characters became fully developed and were less interesting to follow. And (2) The story of David Herold (John Wilkes Boothe accomplice) was far too slow. This should have been the most exciting parts of the book, but I grew very impatient at the slow pacing.

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Lincoln, Gore Vidal tones down his usual insouciance for a fine-grained, occasionally profound portrait of power. Spanning the American Civil War, the novel's told from various perspectives: Lincoln's ambitious cabinet secretaries, William Seward and Salmon Chase (and Chase's daughter Kate Chase Sprague, a force in her own right); his personal secretary, John Hay (whose flirtations with Kate Chase come to naught, and whose visits to a bawdy house provide the story's only vulgar notes); his long-suffering, neurotic wife Mary Todd Lincoln (conjured by Vidal with a mixture of sympathy and aggravation); and David Herrold, who joins several plots to assassinate him. All misjudge or underestimate Lincoln: Seward and Chase, in particular, consider him an unlearned prairie bumpkin to control and manipulate, only to slowly recognize his true brilliance and unyielding vision. Vidal's far less interested in Lincoln the Great Emancipator than Lincoln the Tycoon (in Hay's phrase), a crafty politician-statesman who forges a newly resilient United States. It's not a flattering portrait, with Lincoln agonizing over slavery and race to reconcile the South while acting in highhanded, often dictatorial fashion towards his cabinet, Congress and other rivals. Such abuses make Vidal's Lincoln both unattractive and yet darkly heroic. This man of low birth, erratic education, unstable marriage, embarrassing physical ailments and a weakness for evasive, stemwinding anecdotes also possessed an innate political genius, a vision for America that transcended his shortcomings and guided it through its defining crisis. If Lincoln was a dictator, Vidal argues, it's what the situation warranted: in any case, he was at keast less hypocritical about exercising power than most presidents. A masterpiece of historical fiction, and easily Vidal's greatest achievement.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another entry in the Superb category of true historical fiction. I cannot heap enough praise on Vidal for his ability to present history in a readable format. He understood the characters, mated them with the facts and made them flesh and bone. Still, this is fiction and he says he did take some liberties.

All of the principal characters really existed, and they said and did pretty much what I have them saying and doing, with the exception of the Surratts and David Herold (who really lived and worked at Thompson’s, which was actually closer to New York Avenue than to Pennsylvania Avenue.) As David’s life is largely unknown until Booth’s conspiracy, I have invented a low-life for him.

The novel begins a few days before Lincoln's first inauguration and ends with the assassination. There is no barefoot childhood in a log cabin educating himself, for example. There are references by others that his humble life in Illinois may have been exaggerated for political reasons. For example, no photograph of his Illinois mansion was allowed during the campaign.

We revere Lincoln, but I'll admit much was unknown to me. Lincoln was a consummate politician - why should he not have been? Via understatement and humor he was able to manipulate his political opponents. The secession of a half dozen states came even before he took the oath of office. Those states were then in possession of much federal property, including federal personnel at Fort Sumter. And so, war was waged. Lincoln had but one reason for this war and that reason was not the abolition of slavery.

“And the Union be so restored that no one will ever be able to see the slightest scar from all this great trouble, that will pass now the way a dream does when you wake at last, from a long night���s sleep.”

A full 5-stars - if I could make them flashing gold stars, I would do it. I look forward to more in this series.

[Ned · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildly entertaining, Gore really brings to life Washington DC in 1860, when our nation truly was on the threshold of (near certain) dissolution. Lincoln, the surprise victor of the presidential race faced a mostly confederate-leaning city (the capitol dome was being constructed) and everyone expected the raw-boned Midwesterner to fail. But he was wily and had an animal's instinct with people, keeping his veneer carefully sculpted and his ultimate strategies hidden. The period covered is 1860-1865, and told from Lincoln and his cabinet's point of view in parallel with street-level confederate (secesh) conspirators who ultimately collided with the assassination of our greatest president (by most polls, including mine). It is obvious that Gore read all he could get his hands on (in fact, in my youth I had often cast my eyes over the last days of Lincoln and the hanging of his assassins and conspirators so was familiar with the plot to kill him and his secretary of state).

Gore has a sense of humor that appeals to me, and I found the descriptions of the deceptive generals (who wouldn't fight) and their put-on pomposity hilarious. The jaundiced Seward, a most politically astute secretary of state and the ambitious and proudly upright Salmon Chase (secretary of the treasury, then supreme court head) are nicely contrasted as part of Lincoln's "team of rivals". The internal politics was absolutely caustic, as "the Ancient" or "the tycoon" (as his secretary's dubbed him), stood between the virulently hardline republican abolitionists and the more moderate democrats. Lincoln wanted our nation to be ONE, not two colonies or countries, and this was his underlying ethos. As a lawyer he freed the slaves as a military necessity, as ownership was still constitutional, a political act (among others) that strained the legality of executive powers. He knew these boundaries and, cleverly, split the parties to maintain his power base and to get elected (almost regrettably, he wanted it more to complete what in his heart he knew our nation required vs the naked ambition that characterized him as a much younger man). He grew gaunt and gray in his first term, maintaining his backwoods musculature beneath somewhat disheveled clothing and haircut). Lincoln persevered with humor, and stories, almost as a solitary leader, with his odd jealous and petty wife ("mother") spending like a drunken sailor on herself, and often on the edge of sanity. His favorite son died early in office, and he knew the price of the war he was waging. He bore the awful brunt of his decisions. His secretary, John Hay, tells much of the story and finishes this book beautifully (p. 656):

"Mr. Lincoln had a far greater and more difficult task than Washington's. You see, the Southern states had every Constitutional right to go out of the Union. But Lincoln said, no. Lincoln said, this Union can never be broken. Now that was a terrible responsibility for one man to take. But he took it, knowing he would be obliged to fight the greatest war in human history, which he did, and which he won. So he not only put the Union back together again, but he made an entirely new country, and all of it in his own image". (p. 657)"...Lincoln, in some mysterious fashion, had willed his own murder as a form of atonement for the great an terrible thing that he had done by giving so bloody and absolute a rebirth to his nation."

[Julie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I just read through many reviews here on Goodreads where the comment was made (over and over again), what an amazing work of non-fiction this is. I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but this book is entitled "Lincoln: A Novel" and advises the bookseller to shelve it as Fiction/Literature. This is a novel, y'all, and it's important to know the difference. The author himself, in an afterword, makes it known that, while he stayed true to historical pieces of information as much as possible, he has taken liberties as well.

Okay, now that THAT is out of the way, the 2nd thing I want to write: if you are not a Lincoln devotee, a great lover of American history or a person who follows politics/U.S. Presidents, this book is probably going to sit on your nightstand, unfinished, for the rest of your life.

I LOVE Lincoln, he is hands-down my favorite U.S. President, and he's one of my favorite human beings of all time. I am also a great reader. But, this book was heavy in my hands and it was hard to crack open once I had put it down.

This is a well-written novel, and it seems an accurate enough description of the people and the times, but, if you are a lover of Lincoln and you're not sure you're up to tackling these 657 pages, may I recommend Rosemary Wells' fabulous small book, "Lincoln and His Boys" and/or Walt Whitman's "Civil War Poetry and Prose?"

[Rowena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like how Vidal writes. I read half of this novel before I watched the Lincoln movie (not the vampire hunter one :D) and I was really impressed by the amount of research that went into this book. As someone who knows very little American history, I definitely gained a lot more knowledge after reading this book.It was a long read but worth it.

[Joe Kraus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have memories of when this book came out. As I recall, it was an event, something heralded in bookstores and written about in places beyond the book review sections. Here was a major American intellectual taking on one of our greatest American sacred cows.

This is still an intriguing book, and one I mostly enjoyed, but I’m struck as well by how far in the past its release date now seems. For lack of a better term, Gore Vidal was writing for a “middlebrow” readership, people who were neither academic nor cutting-edge in their expectations of artistry, yet who also expected to be informed.

That world seems deeply shrunken if not vanished today. You can’t really read this book without a lot of what was common knowledge in earlier generations. You need, for instance, to have a solid working knowledge of the sequence of Civil War battles to understand the action here. You need, as well, to have more or less accepted the vision of Lincoln as the great savior of the nation in order to understand the impact the book is seeking.

In a word, this is quasi-revisionist history. The Lincoln whom Vidal gives us is a cosmopolitan who uses his log-cabin/rail-splitter back-story for purely political reasons. He is ever political in his calculations, proving himself much less an abolitionist than many of his allies – particularly Salmon P. Chase and William Sumner. And he is clumsy in a way that often works to his advantage, but clumsy all the same, often over-stepping his Presidential prerogatives and pitting his often cleverer rivals against each other.

All in all, this Lincoln is more an opportunist than a visionary, the right man for his dramatic moment less because of his greatness than because of the peculiar shape of his more modest gifts.

As I understand it from Burr, this is Vidal’s M.O. He takes what we are supposed to know about American history and turns it on its head. Burr wasn’t quite the ruthless and clever figure history told us; he was also a kind of bungler on a great stage.

It’s striking to think that there was once a best-seller audience for this sort of work. I’m glad it still exists, though, because there is a lot of fun here, and it works especially well as an audiobook.

The other striking feature of this – one that further dates it in terms of its appeal – is that this is a novel about the Civil War that takes place almost entirely in people’s kitchens and drawing rooms. We never get direct narration of battle, only the reports of battle as they circulate among people in Washington. We rarely see misconduct; instead, we see people reacting to the stories of it.

In an odd way, then, this feels almost like a staged play. Vidal never bothers with the business of large-scale scenes. Instead, he works to keep that vast story on a human scale.

There are times when this might run on too long and times when it’s frustrating that the stage is so small. All said, though, it’s an intriguing look at a Lincoln who, even with some of the luster knocked off, comes across as a personality who preserved and reinvented the American nation.

[Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gore Vidal was a huge discovery for me. Until I'd read this book, I knew only that he was related to Jackie Kennedy Onassis and and Lee Radziwill and that he was a guest on many talk shows of the 70s & 80s where other well-known guests frequently found his opinions profoundly upsetting. But there was a lot of that going on at the time. I have always admired Abraham Lincoln as our most important president (except for brief periods when I was enamored of Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman and John Adams, in that order), so I literally checked out Lincoln by Gore Vidal. Apparently, the author read every "scrap" of information that he could find on his subject and then knitted together every true thing he found with what he could only surmise had taken place in between the facts by way of conversations which cannot be confirmed as having taken place. The book is as entertaining and enlightening a story as I have ever had the good fortune to read. I came away with a living portrait of Lincoln, the man, and was astonished to learn of the miriad of seemingly insurmountable circumstances attendant to the ones we commonly know of his life and times. Lincoln's health was not the best and the remedy for his stomach problems (a disgusting, viscous concotion called "Blue Mass") had to be endured often. His wife, though she loved him very much, was not an asset to him with her own frail mental and emotional states and some plain selfishness in the bargain. She embarrassed him publicly and politcially. They lost children together. I hate McClellan today because I read that he organized the Army of the Potomac, but he was a tragedy as a general, to put it mildly, and got a staggering amount of Union soldiers needlessly saughtered. Well, I loved the book. Will read it again.

[Theo Logos · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book, yet marred by one glaring flaw. Vidal here perpetuates the ridiculous Lost Cause myth that President Andrew Johnson was simply attempting to carry out Lincoln's plan for an easy peace and was thwarted by the "evil" Radical Republicans. This thoroughly racist Lost Cause drivel had been adequately refuted before Vidal publish his book, and it was simply lazy to use this common yet discredited tale in his otherwise brilliant book. It is a sign of how highly I regard this novel that I gave it five stars despite the unfortunate repeating of Lost Cause lies.

[Steven Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some have deplored Lincoln's indifference to Christianity. But it was not religion, it was religiosity that put him off.

Gore Vidal

[Scott W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whatever hubris it takes to write a biography of Abraham Lincoln, it surely takes plenty to write a research-intensive 657-page novel that covers the entire presidency. Vidal accomplishes this compression by including a pile of exposition in dialogue without it ever quite seeming like he's doing so; perhaps famous national leaders are the only characters in fiction exempt from the rule.

Portraits of "minor" characters -- John Hay (one of Lincoln's personal secretaries) and Kate Chase (daughter of Treasury secretary Salmon Chase) in particular -- are vivid and convincing, but I loved the book most for its glimpse of Washington, D.C. during the Civil War: the mud, the noise, the smell, the vulnerability to attack, the coziness, the charm, etc. Takes small liberties with the historical timeline and invents a few crucial Confederate spies/sympathizers, all to the good.

Final note: the book sparked a HUGE spitting match between Vidal and several eminent Lincoln scholars (though not all of them) in the New York Review of Books. I take both sides, really, although I lean to Vidal: the cover of the book says "a novel," after all, a form equally available to all, or at least to all of the participants in the spitting match.

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gore Vidal's "Lincoln" is the second book in his "Empire" series. Vidal uses his trademark exhaustive research and narrative wit to write a truly excellent book about a wily politician put into a nearly impossible situation-the Civil War.

"Lincoln" shows us the turmoil faced by the 16th President and how he had to balance radical abolitionists, secessionist Democrats, incompetent Generals, and the usual dross that seeks to claim the highest office in the land. Once again, a reader will be struck by the absolute foulness of the press, on both sides, and shows how inimical force the "media" has always been in American politics.

Gore shows how Lincoln's position gradually evolves, as well as his limited desires at the start of the conflict. Gore also shows us how the Rebel spies and John Wilkes Booth came to their plan (originally it was to kidnap Lincoln). Gore's Lincoln is very likable and highly intelligent. The same can not be said for the awful Mrs. Lincoln (Mary Todd) who is one of the most awful people I've run into.

Always interesting and full of information, Gore's prose brings to life these giants of American history. Never aggrandized, they are however shown to be amazing people who were able to shepherd the US throwing a very difficult and dangerous time.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gore Vidal's enjoyable and masterly fictional biography of Abraham Lincoln is, according to the author, largely based on fact.

Until I read Lincoln I had a naive belief that he was a modern saint. That he was not. He is portrayed as being a brilliant politician: persistent, both ruthless as well as humane, and pragmatic.

We are introduced to him as the USA was in the process of becoming disunited and was plunging into a deadly civil war. Not only was his country disunited, but also was his Republican party, many of whose senior members had little faith in his ability to win the Civil War. Yet, he pulled it off. Despite mammoth losses of life on the battlefields, incompetent military commanders, and numerous attempts to sabotage his work, Lincoln managed to defeat the Confederates and to prevent the unity of the young USA from becoming permanently disrupted.

I was surprised to learn that 'Honest Abe' was not always in favour of liberating the Black slaves and ending slavery in the USA. It was almost, it seemed to me, for pragmatic reasons that he was gradually won over to these things. The integrity of the USA was in the forefront of his mind. If allowing slavery in states that would have otherwise become disloyal to the union permitted him to keep them as allies, he allowed that even though many of his closest colleagues were in favour of abolishing slavery.

The novel contains a plethora of interesting and well-portrayed characters, all of whom contribute to the suspense that is maintained throughout its more than 600 pages of tiny font.

[Felisa Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, I am amazed by the breadth and depth of Vidal's knowledge. His seemingly encyclopedic grasp of the era is matched in equal parts by caustic wit and empathy. Vidal's Lincoln is at once human and monolithic, and the pages are imbued with his curious melancholy. (On a side note, one gets the feeling that Mark Ryden had read this book...)
The supporting characters are equally interesting. Mary Todd is nuanced and Vidal brilliantly tracks the evolution of Lincoln's relationship with his cigar chomping and ultimately lovable secretary of state, Seward. But in the end it's Vidal's one liners that I love best. Whether humorous, descriptive, or dramatic, they'll give you chills.

[Richard Kenneth Conde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Gore Vidal's biography of President Lincoln several years ago, after watching and In Depth interview on C-Span Books TV. He placed a high value on writing historical fiction as a way to read and learn about history. The primary value of historical fiction (besides the pleasure of reading), where the writer has done considerable research to get the details mostly right, is being its ability to make historical events comprehensible, by providing the reader with context for how events would look to a person living through the era. A lot of historical events and controversies seem impenetrable, pointless, or trivial to modern readers, which can make it very difficult to really understand the passions of the times. A good historical writer can let you get into the heads of people a bit to understand why they would care so deeply about an issue that seems silly today. A second thing historical fiction can provide is a sympathetic frame to historical events by following characters (real or made up) through historical events, the writer can provide a window for the reader to become emotionally involved in historical events, in a way that a non-fiction treatment might fail to do. This can also reduce large, complicated events down to a more human scale, making it easier to absorb at least one angle of historical events (at the expense, perhaps, of having the broad view of what's going on).

The book splits its time between Lincoln's White House and the eventual plotters who assassinate him. The Lincoln sections are mostly told from the point of view of John Hay, his young secretary. This is a device that I recall worked well as it allowed Lincoln to stay a little mysterious and distant to the reader, while still providing a fairly intimate portrayal of his personality and presidency. Lincoln comes across as very human and likable, but also slowly getting crushed under the weight of the war, and shows some of the progression his own thinking goes through as the war drags on.

In general, I've found the Vidal historical novels that I've read ("Burr", "Lincoln", and "Julian") a little dry, but well worth reading. He's very good at providing the context that I mentioned above, and providing insight into how mostly forgotten historical events looked to people alive at the time. The downsides are that the characters sometimes stay a little distant, and Vidal seems to be mostly interested in the gentry, he rarely spends time with "regular" American people.

[Andrewh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was rollicking good read, and may even contain some historical truths about Abraham Lincoln and his fellow politicos duing the turbulent era of the Civil War. Vidal draws a vivid picture of 19th century Washington - a city built on a swamp, with rudimentary facilities, but with grand aspirations. Lincoln is presented as a man of brilliant lawyerly talents, a pragmatic strategist rather than an idealistic opponent of slavery. Throughout the book, Vidal makes clear that Lincoln (alternately referred to as the Tycoon or the Ancient) was not an abolitionist in any respect, but was opposed to states leaving the union above all (as un-constitutional), which led him to his famous proclamation freeing the slaves (in the South, that is), as a 'military necessity'. His wife is portrayed as a slightly mad shopaholic, massively in debt, and prone to corrupt practices to raise money to do up the ramshackle White House (the Mansion), while his closest advisors are all scheming behind his back (the abolitionist Treasury Secretary Chase wishes to be President instead of Abe, and the Secretary of State Seward is keen on starting a war with Canada or Mexico, to replace the 'lost' secesh states). Washington is full of spies, brothels and disease and the work presents the United States as a young country not hugely unlike Ancient Rome, corrupt yet idealistic, and destined to expand militarily - the Civil War had built the largest military force on earth, and, possibly, hints Vidal, paved the road to eventual Empire.

[Lindz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the easiest book to read. It is dense, large, and dense. But very much worth the read if you have any interest in the American Civil War or President Lincoln.

Like any good Historical novel worth it's salt, it's brilliantly researched. A lot of the things said by Lincoln in the novel were in fact recorded speech from the great President. What I love about this novel though is that you never quite know what is going through Lincoln's head. All the point of views are from his wife, his secretary, his minister of treasury and his minister of war.

You will feel smarter after reading this novel.

[Inese Okonova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bija grūti lasīt, gluži tāpat kā Vidala pirmo impērijas stāstu par Āronu Beru, jo autora erudīcija un zināšanas par laikmetu un ASV politiskās vēstures niansēm ir n-tās reizes pārāka par maniem virpusējiem iespaidiem. Vidals lasītāju šajā ziņā netaupa. Romāna darbība simtprocentīgi risinās ASV Pilsoņu kara laikā, bet darba centrā nav ne lielās kaujas, ne cilvēciskās drāmas. Pilsoņu karu lasītājs iepazīst no Vašingtonas varas gaiteņu aizkulisēm un politiskām intringām, kas tolaik galvenajiem varoņiem bija daudz nozīmīgākas nekā mums, par to lasot ar laika distanci.
Vidals rāda, kā uz jaunas, vēl tikai dzimstošas impērijas! fona rodas mīts. Turklāt, pēc viņa droši vien ķecerīgā viedokļa, mīts tiek radīts ļoti apzināti. Ja īsi jāraksturo grāmata, tas ir stāsts par ģēniju, kurš visus piemuļķoja ar savu pieticību, lai ieņemtu pirmo pozīciju, kas savukārt viņam bija vajadzīga nevis personiskā labuma vai varaskāres dēļ, bet gan tāpēc, lai izpildītu misiju, ko, pēc viņa domām, neviens cits nespētu. Piņķerīgi. Bet tāda ir arī pati grāmata.

[Marty Fried · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by Gore Vidal, and now I want to read more. He really brought this period to life and made it interesting and understandable. It was nothing like what I would have thought, had I thought more about it. The White House was a rat-infested dump with smelly swamps and garbage all around, where people were often sick or died, and inhabited by mostly confederate sympathizers. It was not the best place to be a Yankee.

Lincoln was always interesting. He and his family didn't really fit in well with the existing society. He seemed to be odd and not too bright, and people thought he was not in control. But somehow, he was always able to arrange things to turn out the way he wanted, often without people realizing he was doing it - probably due to his homey way of talking, injecting stories, etc. I thought he was pretty entertaining. His wife, on the other hand, was a handful and somewhat, if not completely, crazy, especially later in the book. Much of the time, she could not stop spending money on both herself and the Capitol, which neither could really afford. She then had to do whatever she could to stave off the debtors, much of which was illegal or immoral.

Even though I of course knew what was going to happen to him, He was assassinated, there was still an air of suspense as the time approached, and a sense of the sadness and anger after the event.

This book took me longer to finish than normal, but I think it was worth it. Fortunately, I had audiobooks to listen to at the same time.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked to give this book a higher rating, but to me, Vidal seems to have greatly admired Lincoln, but he shows no real understanding of him as a human being. Lincoln was an enigma in many respects, and in a work of non-fiction that might be a more acceptible point of view. Here, in a substantial novel, it leaves the presentation with a hollow center. And it greatly subtracts from the drama of the events. I think George MacDonald Fraser managed to convey a more engaging character in his two or three scenes with Lincoln in Flash for Freedom than Vidal managed in his entire book. Give me Burr or 1876 any day.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

a chunk of a book that I found slow going at first because I was struggling to find the time to read but it warmed up as I got further in and I really enjoyed the political scheming and plots that surrounded Lincoln. A great insight into his wife Mary Todd Lincoln also.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What does he mean?” “He will take the South back—slaves and all. Anything, to preserve the Union.” “Thank God, they will not come.” “Thank God, they will not come, without a bloody war.”

Excellent historical fiction. Vidal builds the story of Lincoln’s years in Washington through the witness of largely-real people. It’s a wonder the poor man got anything done, let alone kept the nation together when he was surrounded by vain, self-serving, crazy, hypocrites. Better than Burr. Published in 1984, written during early Reagan years.

“Mr. Lincoln, you are willing to arrest and to hold men indefinitely without ever charging them with any offense?” “That’s about it, Mr. Seward.” “But on what authority?” “On my authority, as Commander-in-Chief.” “But you have no authority to allow the military to arrest anyone they like and to hold them without due process of law.” “Plainly, I think that I do have that right because that is what I am about to do.”

Better storytelling than contemporary authors. Like Burr, the story is told by people around the protagonist. Vidal occasionally strays into following their story rather than Lincoln’s. Quibbles on mistakes in local geography and minor facts. Appropriately, all battles are fought off stage, like Shakespearean drama.

“Tell no one that there’s not a copy of the Constitution in the President’s House.” “People have already guessed that.”

By having Lincoln described by those around him, Vidal retains the possibility they are wrong and even misleading. Seems to weave everyone who entered Washington in 1861-1865 into the story, even if they never met Lincoln. Good enough to encourage reading the next book in the series.

“If I were to guarantee that Mr. Chase—” “We can never guarantee anyone else and, sometimes, in politics, we can’t even guarantee ourselves.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The man who divided a nation, who endured a political divided Cabinet, and lived in a divided house yet somehow got them united in some form or another before his death. Lincoln by Gore Vidal looks at Abraham Lincoln’s time in Washington from his secret arrival in late February to his death a little over four years later not from the titular character’s point-of-view by those around him.

Abraham Lincoln is the central character of this historical fiction novel that only has three paragraphs from his perspective in the whole 655 pages of text as Vidal’s cast of characters either interact with or reaction from afar to the man in the White House. Though the many valleys and the peaks of the Union war effort are mentioned, Vidal focuses on the political atmosphere within Washington D.C. from faction ridden Republican Cabinet and Congress to the pro-secessionist inhabitants of the capital. While Vidal pieces together an excellent narrative and interesting characters, he obviously stretches the historical facts or downright makes stuff up including reversing some character’s real-life opinions, so reader beware. The focus on Lincoln the man as told from the perspective of those around him is an intriguing premise and Vidal’s prose make it a good read.

Lincoln is a well-written historical fiction novel by Gore Vidal that shows the 16th President in the middle of a political maelstrom inside a civil war.

[Jenny Karraker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is listed as fiction, because it is written in novel form, with dialogue that isn't quoted from specific historical documents. However, the events and characters were all real. It was intriguing to read of how disrespected Lincoln was, especially by people in his own cabinet. They often thought him a naive, backwoods simpleton who knew nothing about politics and governing. But as Barbara Gannon often says in her Civil War class at University of Central Florida, you have to remember that this guy was a lawyer and knew exactly what he was doing. There was a method in his madness that eventually astounds those who earlier opposed him. When you read of the pressure he was under from the casualties of the war and its seeming no end in sight, you are reminded of his strength of character, the compassion he had for people on both sides of the war, and his determination and stamina to persevere amidst the opposition from both the South and North, bickering within his own party, and the tremendous slaughter on the battlefields. This book also portrayed a more compassionate view of Mary Todd Lincoln. She has often been portrayed as an emotionally unstable woman (though perhaps today she would have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder). Yet here she is described as being very knowledgeable about the politics of the day and seemed to be a good companion for Lincoln. In visiting Japan 25 years ago, I learned that they call Washington the father of the United States and Lincoln the mother. He certainly displayed a great loyalty and sacrificial lifestyle for this country. It is so shocking that he is assassinated at the end of the war; but on a philosophical view, perhaps his role was to get us through this great conflagration and unite us into a country that more accurately reflects the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. In light of recent events over the past year, we certainly need to visit those racial issues again and work toward the things Mr Lincoln strove for so courageously.

[Roger Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book twenty-five years ago and remembered it as unusual - so detailed historically and bold psychologically. A second reading confirmed both of these features. It is a real tour de force of historical imagination and reconstruction, written by a man with a very sure touch. In 650 pages there are almost no longueurs and, although Vidal clearly admired and respected his subject, no tendency to lionize or flatter.
Twenty-five years of our literary epoch is a long time and once or twice I found myself surprised by the formality of the storytelling in terms of order, pace and rhythm - surprised because there was nothing conventional about Vidal as man or journalist or essayist - also relieved that the story did not start at the end or jump to and fro in time, one of the inescapable devices of so-called modernism. I wondered at the end why the author didn't simply write it as history - which he was of course perfectly capable of doing.
There is a conclusion, given to the President's likeable young secretary, John Hay, on the last page of the book, who explains his reason for placing Lincoln as the greatest of presidents, above even Washington: 'Mr Lincoln had a far greater and more difficult task than Washington's. The Southern States had every Constitutional right to go out of the Union. But Lincoln said, no. Lincoln said, this Union can never be broken. Now that was a terrible responsibility for one man to take. But he took it, knowing he would be obliged to fight the greatest war in human history, which he did, and which he won. So he not only put the Union back together again, but he made an entirely new country, and all of it in his own image.'
One might quibble with the very last bit, but Vidal doesn't make it easy to do so.